Lyric's Seagull is Clever, Challenging and Highly Entertaining

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Penny Flood enjoys a sparkling update of Chekhov's masterpiece

 

This is a sparkling update of the Chekhov masterpiece on the devastating mix of sexual attraction with artistic egos, and the destructive power of the combination.

It's clever, challenging, disturbing, thought provoking and very funny, all of which make for a good entertaining two and a half hours.

Here's the plot: teacher Simeon ((Raphael Sowole) is in love with Marcia (Cherrelle Skeete), who is stalking Konstatin (Brian Vernal) , who is infatuated with Nina (Adelayo Adedayo) who only has eyes for Boris (Nicholas Gleaves) , who is having an affair with Irina (Lesley Sharp), who also happens to be Konstatin's mother.

And that's not all, over the estate house, the lovely Pauline (Michele Austin) who is unhappily married to boorish estate manager Leo (Lloyd Hutchinson) is in love with Hugo (Paul Higgins), the doctor who has to attend to Irina's brother Peter (Nicholas Tennant), who also owns the estate.

All the action takes place on the estate, where it opens as they are all there for the first night of Konstatin's first play, starring Nina. And it bombs, setting the tone for the rest of the play.

Not least of his critics is Konstantin's appalling mother Irina, an actress whose glory days are behind her. Lesley Sharp is brilliant as the self-obsessed Irina, striding around in her gorgeous clothes and kitten heels, defying anyone not to find her the most beautiful woman in her room.

Her brooding, moody son is a source of embarrassment to her, she doesn't realise what happening until it's to late, Come to that, neither do any of them, which why the final scene set after two years have passed, is so devastating. The only thing that's still in pace is Irina's self obsession.

Boris isn't much better, he's an extremely successful writer, posing and strutting, accepting no responsibility for his actions. He's a silver tongued devil with a chat up line that would make the angels weep, it's easy to see why Nina has fallen for him. He does, however, deliver an interesting monologue on writing and what it means to him, and why he's so driven.



And so it tumbles on, with never a dull moment as intense discussions on love and the creative arts, are juxtaposed with humour including some hilarious set pieces. Not least when Irina and Boris Have sex against the kitchen wall and they have to share a tissue to clean things up.

Between scenes a safety curtain comes down so huge shadows play against it as the scenery is moved. I liked that. And there are some nice touches: a huge electronic pad, which lights up when Nina steps on it, doesn't work so well when Irina tries it; and Jacob (Lloyd Cooney) the handyman who has been running around with a screw driver and shifting suit cases has a moment of rebellion and steals Boris' hat.

It's strange that the play is set firmly in the twenty first century, and they have to rely on horses to get them about and suitcases don't have wheels, but that's not a big problem.

The only big problem for me is the symbolism of the seagull. Boris shoots it as a gift for Nina, then what happens, happens. It all felt a bit laboured. Maybe that's the way Chekhov wrote it. I don't know, it just didn't work for me, but honestly, that's my only criticism.

The Seagull continues at the Lyric Hammersmith until 4 November. Find out more and book tickets online or call the box office on 020 8741 6850.

October 13, 2017